Decide What Color Works For You

According to research, colors and lighting have an impact on our mood and level of productivity.

It’s amazing to know that you can affect your level of happiness and success simply by introducing certain lighting or changing the interior paint of the room.

Success may just be a paint swatch away so what are you waiting for.

Here are ways to get the most out of your workspace.

Decide What Color Works For You:

Some of us need to calm down in order to focus and others need to be externally stimulated to wake up and start work. Choosing the right interior paint color will affect your clarity of thinking and energy level.

• Blue: Offers a sense of peace and well-being for most people. Lighter blues have a crisp, cooling effect, whereas darker blues tend to give a more grounding, peaceful feeling. Studies have shown that the color blue can lower your heart rate, blood pressure and respiration.

• Red: Can be very stimulating. If you need passion and creativity to be successful then red might be the best choice. Studies show that the color red actually has the opposite effect as the color blue. It can increase your heart rate, blood pressure and respiration.

• Green: Creates a relaxing environment. This color has a calming affect like the color blue and is commonly used to relieve stress. If you are a stress case this may be the color for you.

• Orange: Provides a refreshing and energetic atmosphere. It will keep you awake and increase productivity. If enthusiasm is needed to get your work done then orange is a great color to get you moving.

• Purple: Is sophisticated and luxurious. Offering you the ability to bring depth to a room and stimulate creativity. The deeper purples allow for grounding, calming surroundings. The lighter purples are similar to blues, providing a clean, cool mood.

Set The Mood With Lighting:

The human body is equipped with a little alarm clock that responds to our external environment. It runs 24 hours a day and is responsible for waking us up and putting us to sleep. Too little light can make you sluggish and sleepy, and too much light can be harsh and over stimulating. CFL and LED bulbs come in 3 different values: Soft white, Bright white and Daylight.

• Daylight bulb: If you are a person that needs to wake up to work then you likely chose one of the vibrant colors in house paint. To accentuate the room choose the daylight bulb. Natural light coming in from a window is ideal, but if you need artificial lighting, this bulb will imitate natural light.

• Soft white bulb: This type of lighting sets a very soothing, serene atmosphere. The rooms that were painted the colors to calm and relax you will be best suited for this light. You may even use this lighting throughout the room and place a brighter lit lamp close to your work space which will allow the rest of the room to softly sit in the background while you focus on your work.

• Bright white bulb: The rooms that were painted colors to bring out a cool, crisp atmosphere are best suited for this type of lighting. This bulb will brighten the room and highlight your light blues, light purples and greens. Giving you a clean, relaxing environment that will be easy to focus and be productive in.

Organize Your Space:

Even the perfect lighting won’t improve productivity if your space is a disorganized, cluttered mess. Now it’s time to clean up and organize your room in a way that will be most efficient for you. Here are some helpful organizing tips:

• Convenience: Find out what you will need in close proximity to you. Having to search for something will slow you down and make you less productive.

• Make Lists: Making list helps to organize the mess in your head so that you can think more clearly. It lightens the load when you can see what you need to do on paper and it feels great checking it off your list when you’re done.

• Empty Out: Remove anything in your workspace that you do not need. You can store things that you may need in the future in boxes. Do a disk clean up on your computer so it will work more efficiently. Clutter is distracting and can slow you and your machinery down.

• Nail it up: Time to pull out a hammer and nails. Shelves are a great place to organize books and files you may need readily available. Nailing up a corkboard will keep all those to do list and sticky notes off your desk but still in sight.

We spend most of our hours in a day inside an office. The room you work in should work for you. Create a beautiful work environment that will allow you to stay focused and productive. This may be as easy as a little house paint, lighting and keeping organized.